What a mouthfull.....76 FJ40

seaduck66 · 02-26-09, 06:21 PM

I'm relatively new to the MUd but have been getting alot of ideas from all the fine folks here. Two years ago I purchased a 76 FJ40 after a twenty year absense. During the holidays I decided it was time to tear my "toy" down and bring it back to life. Granted it was not in bad shape but I had a list of things I wanted to do. Keep in mind I have not done a project this involved so it will be a learning experience and I hope fun!! It started with a new color and putting an old corvette engine in it I had from my father in law. So now a few months into this I have it pretty well torn down and the engine in it. Now it's time for body work and rewire. Boy what a mouthfull I have bitten off. Much thanks to those who have already given me advise. I will post more as it progresses.

camcruiser13 · 02-26-09, 06:23 PM

shes a bueaty

same year and color as mine. im in love

Stumpalama · 02-26-09, 06:49 PM

Uh oh, one of those perfectionist types eh? I don't know anything about that (check out my ROTW thread in my sig line)

I knew a little about mechanics and nothing about welding when starting my build 11 years ago. I loved every minute of it... and still do.

You are very lucky, that is a nice looking rig, many around here would wonder why you would tear down a perfectly good cruiser.

good luck... post some pics of the tear down and build up.

Cheers-
-Stump

seaduck66 · 02-26-09, 07:00 PM

Stump, she looks better in the picture than she really is but I looked for 3 years to find one that was still original metal and little rust. I found this in Colorado. It's basically torn down at this point and I'm stripping all the paint (6 coats paint & primer) off the body parts. Wish I had gotten it bead blasted or dipped at this point..... I also did a front spring and shackle reversal last weekend. Much more to do and spring is coming to soon.

Stumpalama · 02-26-09, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seaduck66

Stump, she looks better in the picture than she really is but I looked for 3 years to find one that was still original metal and little rust. I found this in Colorado. It's basically torn down at this point and I'm stripping all the paint (6 coats paint & primer) off the body parts. Wish I had gotten it bead blasted or dipped at this point..... I also did a front spring and shackle reversal last weekend. Much more to do and spring is coming to soon.

They often do look better in pictures. It's nice to start with good bones too. Have you found the hidden bondo treats? If not consider yourself very lucky. There's nothing quite like the smell of bondo when it is hit with an sanding disk on an angle grinder.
Good luck

seaduck66 · 02-27-09, 07:42 AM

No bondo treats other than a small skim coat on the lower cowl wear there was a small dent. The metal was solid and silver under it. It did have the usual rear sil rot which I have cut out at this point. It also had some blisters on the front bib. Last week I picked up a used bib in good shape from another MUD member who responded to a post. It will work out fine once I get it striped. I'll try and post some more images tonight.

dgangle · 02-27-09, 07:53 AM

Old-school Mud-Terains, cool. 33's or 35's? If 33's. you got an extra you wanna sell? Can pick up.

seaduck66 · 02-27-09, 07:06 PM

dgangle, they are 35's. Sorry no extra's laying around. When these are worn I will be looking for new shoes.
Thought I would post what I did with the rear sil I cut out, the shackle reversal and new engine. This is the fun stuff

After I cut all the rot out

I cut a piece of 2 x 4 stock and welded it back in place. I plan on lining the inside of the tub so the tub overlap should coverup nicely.

The new MAF dogbones after the reversal

Here is the orphin Corvette engine I put in her mated to the stock 4 speed. Can't wait to fire it up....

PhilC64 · 02-28-09, 10:12 AM

Sweet rig!!! Keep up the work and you'll be wheeling it in no time at all!

seaduck66 · 02-28-09, 04:43 PM

Thought I would post a couple of shots from today. I started stripping the old paint and primer off the toy. I have tried the last couple weeks using different strippers and some of the jelly's didn't do a thing. I found a rattle can stripper at advance auto they recommended and it works great. Just spray it on and wash off with the preasure washer and I had bare metal. I did use the disc in some areas where I had several layers but the spray worked great. It is made by Mar Hyde and runs about $6 a can.

Fender and aprons

.Hood after 6 coats of primer and paint. Turned out great!

It is time for a few of these!!

seaduck66 · 03-09-09, 06:21 PM

Still working on getting the body ready for primer and paint. Havn't been working as hard the last two weeks. Finally warmed up and I took a few days to go swing some flys for trout

Here are a few recent images of stripping on the front cowl. Does anyone now if the filler between the cowl and firewall is glazing or caulk? I pulled this out since it was cracking and it has about a 1/8" gap.

cleanpool2 · 03-10-09, 05:07 AM

seam sealer goes there, us masking tape on either side
of grove to get a better looking end product, use non uv cureing

seaduck66 · 03-10-09, 10:40 AM

Thanks for the info on the seam seal. I'll check this out. I see you are right up the road from me. I'm in that area often for work and play.

sls019 · 03-10-09, 11:34 AM

great looking truck you started with. Stripping and sanding are my least favorite things, but i see the reward you have gotten from "grinding" thru the process. I am at the start of my second rebuild having just completed teardown. Thanks for sharing your work.

tlc_4play · 03-10-09, 12:08 PM

You've started with a really good truck - so from here on it can ONLY get better

I pulled my 1979 BJ40 apart and rebuilt it into an FJ,

thread here http://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series...into-fj40.html

I enjoyed the project so much so that I have now bought another - a 1983 FJ40 LX - because I was suffering from a severe case of 40 series rebuild withdrawal symptoms.

seaduck66 · 03-10-09, 06:46 PM

Thanks for the replys

sls019 I know what you mean about sanding and stripping. It really sucks and is boring. Bristol is not far from me and I come up that way often to hit the S. Holston for my other love. Waving the fly rod at big browns.....The engine and suspension was fun. Can't wait to start the rebuild. I'm still trying to decide if I want to try and tackle the prime and paint. Not real experienced in this area. I have a buddy who paints Harleys and has offered to help. We will see in a few weeks when I get everything ready........

seaduck66 · 03-29-09, 03:51 PM

Still working on the body and stripping paint. Like some posted up earlier I'm starting to find tha ugly at this point. I was working on the windshield and have discovered a lot of small holes and pitted metal in it and the bezel. Is this something repairable or should I just start over with new pieces? What do you guys think? My shop is starting to get really crowded with parts everywhere. I need a bigger shop! Don't we all........

seaduck66 · 04-07-09, 06:29 PM

Took a break from working on the tub and fixing metal from the past few weeks and tried my hand at spraying some ppg primer. I needed a little encouragement from the boring body work. The pitted and rusted bezel and bib are starting to look better. The hood turned out really nice. Now just to block sand, glaze, sand, more primer, more sanding and maybe thin a base coat.......This is going to take a bit longer than I expected. Seems like someone told me that!

sls019 · 04-07-09, 11:41 PM

Did you have to use any filler on the bezel and frame? Or were you able to sand out the pitting?

seaduck66 · 04-08-09, 06:36 AM

The front bezel had a few small holes that I posted earlier. Those I filled with tiger tuff filler on the back side and then a bit of glazing on top of the primer. The high build primer took care of most of the pitting after a couple coats. I ended up blasting the bezel and bib to make sure I removed all the pitted metal. The front bib still needs some glazing work for some shallow dings that are more than primer will fill. I have not done much body work before so I'm trying to figure this out as I go.

sls019 · 04-08-09, 12:19 PM

Thanks for that reply. I also do not have much experience with body work. Only cutting, grinding, and sanding. This spring and summer will be my trial periods with metal work and welding. I really enjoy the mechanical side of repairs. Not so much on the body.

seaduck66 · 04-13-09, 05:17 PM

I took advantage of the nice weather Sunday and sprayed some epoxy on some of the body parts. Since I have never done body work I was a bit worried about screwing this up. I was pleased with how it turned out. Next I'm going to tackle the body tub. With that said I finally made up my mind on th wiring situation and pulled all the old wiring out. The dash was a rats nest of wiring to say the least. Hope I can figure it all out when it comes time to rewire.... It may take several of these

. It will be nice having it all cleaned up and a modern fuse block with enough circuts for all the toys.

The harness removed

seaduck66 · 10-28-09, 06:59 PM

Well it has been a slow summer and fall on my project. Sort of lost motivation with the body work. I finally took a break from deer hunting and got back on task a few weeks ago stripping everything in the tub so I can spray on the liner. Tonight my spray in bed liner came and hopefully this weekend I will get it sprayed. I'm doing this myself for the 1st time so I hope it works out. i'll post up some pics afterwards so you can see how it turned out.

seaduck66 · 10-29-09, 06:31 PM

Can anyone tell me how to get the images back up or do I have to reload them all?

Thanks

seaduck66 · 10-29-09, 06:49 PM

Last weekend I fabbed up a new tailgate. MAde the frame out of 1" x 2" stck and the panel out of som 16ga. metal with hemmed seams all around to match the stock body panels.

nicholastheczar · 10-29-09, 09:25 PM

Looks good. I'm about to start on the body work on mine, not really looking forward to it - but it has to be done.

Keep it up!

Nick

cleanpool2 · 11-01-09, 03:50 AM

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on the floorboard I used 2 coats of por 15 grey rust proofing.
I am told the grey is heavyier and it seams to cover the pitting better. The stuff settles donw into better. Made a slick glossy surface.
Now next spring I will lightly sand and fill in the final pit indentions that are left. Then prime and paint with reg. paint.
I wanted a painted surface for ease of cleaning. The bedliner stuff is too hard to keep clean. The por 15 came out great.
and will give me a coating to keep the rust from coming back.
Cause it is completely heavy duty sealed now.
If you are in the area after april 15 call and come by to see. I will be back for my wintering in the keys by then.
Yours is looking good. I would seal that pitting with por 15 before you prime, so rust would not come back for a long time.

SFROMAN · 11-01-09, 09:33 AM

Good progress.
How do you plan on holding up the tailgate? I am thinking of doing the same to my 40.

seaduck66 · 11-01-09, 04:13 PM

I have a MAF rear tire carrier and don't plan on having a drop gate on it. I'm using 2 bolts through the frame on each side with 5/16" bolts with a nylon spacer between the frame and quarter panel support. It will be a fixed panel. I thought about making a drop gate just pivoting on the bottom two and using stock latch's at the top but decided I would not use it.

seaduck66 · 11-01-09, 04:29 PM

I sprayed the bedliner today and I'm pretty happy with it. It was a bit rougher than I would have liked but I can live with it. The liner I used was from Liner Extreeme LinerXtreeme
Ken shiipped the product fast and I used their small kit. I ordered the medium gray but I'm not sure it was. It seems a bit lighter. Maybe they shipped the Light gray. A couple of things that I would do different if I were doing it again would be to use more reducer. I think this would have helped with the texture. Second I would not get their small gun. It is to small with the working time you have. A hopper gun from habor freight would have been better. The total cost to do this was $89 so I can't complain to much. I was worried about all the factory mounting holes and spent a bit of time working through this but was happy with the results. I used 1/4" and 3/8" tubing that I had and cut them into2" pieces. These I screwed into all the holes during the prep. After the liner started setting up I pulled these back out and have really clean holes left. Here are some images of the prep and finished spray.

After a long day I need a couple of these